I need some advice on panniers. I'm a college student and frequently find myself carrying 25 lbs+ of books around in my backpack. Can anyone point me in the direction of some manufacturers that produce panniers that could hold large and heavy textbooks? Ideally I would love to find some that lock so that I could leave the books I don't need for a particular class during the day on my bike.

I commute to work and back, and depending on what is going on, I often am carrying a heavy load including books and laptop computer in addition to my clothes and lunch. I have a variety of Arkel Panniers, which I use depending on what I am carrying. Most frequently I use the T-42s and/or the briefcase.

The arkel bug is great. It is a bit on the smaller side so I can fit a laptop and a Couple biology textbooks in it with all my other crap. I've had it for 4 years now and it's still going strong. Word.